Support for Smart Factory Construction to Expand 'K-Quarantine'

Smart Factory Introduced for Diagnostic Kit Production

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 11th that it will begin full-scale support for the distribution of smart factories to manufacturers of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) diagnostic kits, which are experiencing a surge in export requests overseas.

The Ministry previously collaborated with Samsung Electronics during the COVID-19 crisis when mask shortages were severe, launching a win-win smart factory distribution project to support manufacturers in establishing new facilities and transferring innovative know-how, resulting in a production increase of over 50%. Based on this experience of improving productivity through smart manufacturing processes, and with recent surges in overseas orders, the Ministry is now promoting the establishment of smart factories for diagnostic kit manufacturers, a representative K-quarantine product that requires rapid productivity improvement and quick establishment of production facilities in a short period.

According to Company A, which produces diagnostic kits, since May they have already received overseas orders amounting to five times their previous production volume, and from August, orders equivalent to 20 times their previous volume, with export requests continuing unabated. Other companies also face the situation of having to supply their entire annual production volume within one to two months. In response, the Ministry, together with the Korea Federation of SMEs and Samsung Electronics Smart Factory Support Center, is directly visiting diagnostic kit manufacturers to listen to difficulties in the manufacturing process, with smart factory experts inspecting production sites and identifying improvement tasks for each company.

Field visits revealed that a common issue among diagnostic reagent companies is the need to improve productivity due to the recent increase in short-term orders. It was particularly identified that a transition from small-lot, multi-product manufacturing sites to mass production systems is necessary, and thorough segregation management to maintain quality is urgent.

The Ministry plans to address this by establishing on-site management processes where materials, semi-finished products, and finished products are strictly segregated and managed in all processes, and by introducing barcode systems to simultaneously improve production efficiency and quality. Regarding automated equipment operation, the Ministry will transfer know-how for optimal production planning and dispatch equipment experts to companies preparing new factories to provide support.

The Ministry will also conduct on-site diagnostics for mask and hand sanitizer manufacturers and support the establishment of smart factory facilities through capable suppliers. Jo Joo-hyun, head of the Ministry’s SME Smart Manufacturing Innovation Planning Group, stated, "After supporting smart factories for diagnostic kit manufacturers, we plan to further strengthen smart factory support using AI, cloud technologies, and more to enhance the innovation capabilities of domestic manufacturing."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.